


It Happened Quiet

by razodazol



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Trauma, Drama, F/M, Heavy Angst, Magical Accidents, Magical Realism, Mental Breakdown, Miraculous Side Effects, Missing Persons, Mystery, Psychological Trauma, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:47:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/razodazol/pseuds/razodazol
Summary: Four years ago, Adrien Agreste went missing. Hawkmoth ceased his attacks across Paris, and months later, Chat Noir and Ladybug were never seen again.Until the Parisian hero picked up his case again.Perhaps the disappearance of Adrien Agreste isn't as unsolvable as previously thought.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 13
Kudos: 78





	1. Infections of a Different Kind

Marinette swept the floor of her parents’ bakery. She was home for spring break, and for once wasn’t spending it with her friends. Fashion school was more demanding than she ever imagined, and she was actually grateful for a week of normalcy.

She let the news play while she cleaned up, an old habit from when she still saved Paris as Ladybug. Watching the news and keeping up with it had become a permanent habit in her life.

She swept the last bit of dust bunnies into the pan, knocking it into the trash carelessly as she fixed her attention towards the small television on the wall.

“Last week, Gabriel Agreste officially announced that he will be selling his brand and stepping down from leadership-”

Marinette took the remote and turned the t.v off, scoffing to herself. Of course, he would sell it, she thought it would’ve come much sooner. Maybe, she was simply being melancholic. She couldn’t imagine how he could keep designing after what happened, nobody ever figured that out, not even her.

She shook her head and pushed the last chair back into its place. She heard her father before she felt his hand on her shoulder. A warm and comforting weight against the small sea of emotions she felt.

“I know he inspired you.”

“It’s fine, papa,” she smiled and patted the top of his hand. “I’m still gonna be a designer, no matter what.” 

For him, who liked looking at her designs.

Who encouraged her.

Wanted to see more.

And eagerly waited for what she would create. 

***  
Four years ago, Adrien disappeared. Marinette couldn’t remember the events that led up to the official announcement in the news. All she remembered were the last words she ever spoke to him, as Ladybug, and the last words he ever said back to her. 

She was patrolling as she normally did around Paris, her Saturday night patrol was consistently from 6am to 6pm like clockwork. She watched the sun set and watched it rise. Marinette considered it her ‘break patrol’ seldom did anything happen during those hours, and she spent her time exploring the city. Akumas could come from anywhere, and it was important to know all the best hiding places.

Never did she expect to see Adrien Agreste sitting at the edge of the River Seine bridge, clearly not wishing to be found. She remembered what he was wearing. He wore an uncharacteristically dark outfit, a black sweatshirt, and grey joggers. Nothing at all like what he wore at school.

Ladybug swung down quickly, it was easily past midnight, the sky black as pitch, only illuminated by the lights of the city. 

“I didn’t know models liked night time walks,” she said to him. 

Adrien startled, visibly flinching as he looked at her, cheeks reddening as he stuttered over himself, “I’m not supposed to-”

“It’s okay, I’m not your keeper. It’s my duty to make sure every Parisian citizen is safe, that includes you,” she couldn’t help her smile. It was just.. So much easier to talk to him as Ladybug, no jitters to fight off.

“Haha, right,” he rubbed the back of his neck and returned his eyes to the water. She sat next to him on the bridge, staring back down at the inky abyss below before returning her gaze to him. 

Away from their classmates, she could look at him without freaking out. She never noticed it until that moment but Adrien looked tired. The circles around his eyes were dark, the rims of his eyes red. The wind blew back his hair and he hugged his knees to his chest, making himself smaller. 

“I came here to think,” he said, unprompted. 

“It’s an inspiring place,” she looked back at the water, crossing her legs over each other. 

“It really is.” 

But there was a sadness in his eyes that Marinette had never seen before. A hollow sheen where there used to be the bright, sparks of independent green. Adrien looked dull, like a shell of who he was when she saw him at school. 

Maybe that was why she offered to walk him home. 

He had politely declined, saying that it would draw too much attention if he, a model walked back with her, Paris’ number one hero.

And she left him there, zipping to the next building, to her next route. 

Between that conversation and the next day, Adrien was gone.

***

“Where do you think he might have gone, Chat?”

“You think I know where models go, m’lady?”

Ladybug sighed, “I’m asking rhetorically, kitty! He can’t just vanish, he wasn’t a ghost. Adrien’s a freaking supermodel, there’s no way he could have vanished without someone knowing!” 

Chat slowly took her hands, running his thumbs over the top of her knuckles, “You still haven’t considered Nino’s statement.”

“Yeah,” she laughed, “Am I supposed to believe he somehow went with his mother?” 

“It’s all we have. We didn’t know him personally.” 

Right, they didn’t. 

Nobody did, not even her. 

When she returned to class the next day as Marinette there were only whispers of the fact that Adrien had vanished. It could be plausible that his father removed him from school but no, Gabriel Agreste put in the missing persons report. Anything could have happened to Adrien, he was famous after all. He could be held somewhere for ransom, or kidnapped, or god forbid, murdered.

It was obvious the class cared, but no one knew what to think. Marinette, Nino, Alya, and Chloe were the only ones who knew him well enough to grieve. Nobody else was quite as involved in Adrien’s life as they were, and even then, that time was liminal at best.

Although now, Marinette felt like she never knew him in the first place. Adrien was a mirage, a fantasy, a dream she constantly chased and let slip through her fingers. The news had devastated her. 

If it weren’t for being Ladybug, she knew she would’ve been lost to her sea of emotions, drowning in them. But, she had a responsibility, and she couldn’t put that aside just yet.

***

“All I’m saying Marinette, is that you have to follow your dreams! It’s been four years, Adrien isn’t coming back.” 

“I know,” Marinette snapped, “Sorry, I know. It’s just, I think he really would’ve liked something like this, you know?”

“A cake decorated by you, absolutely!” 

Marinette pulled a cream orange box off of her shelf, falling back onto her childhood bed. 

“I meant coming to the class my dad teaches, Alya.”

“Right, right. Well, you totally heard that Gabriel is stepping down from his brand, about time, right?” 

Marinette responded with a noise and tuned Alya out as she kept talking. She creaked open the lid of the box, staring down at the chunky black ring inside.

She didn’t dare touch the Black Cat miraculous, she hadn’t so much as looked at it since Chat Noir returned it to her. That day tore her heart out and shattered it to pieces but she knew deep down that Chat was right.

When Hawkmoth’s attacks ceased, they had no reason to protect Paris. They weren’t detectives, they were powerless without akumas to fight. Just two kids with an overload of magical powers and nothing to fight again.

She didn’t expect him to return the ring, but it was for the right reasons. He told her many times that the power he wielded was too dangerous to be kept without an outlet. 

Chat must have kept the original box the miraculous arrived in, because the box he returned it in was nothing like it. He returned the ring in a beautiful orange box with white floral details. Marinette traced her fingers around the lifted, textured pattern.

She felt more abandoned by Chat Noir than she thought he would. That was his fault, she’d blame him forever for that. All of the patrols they spent together after Hawkmoth’s suspicious lack of attacks, and all Chat Noir did was fill her head with story after story about dreams and promises, about how everything would be okay. 

But it wasn’t, Adrien still wasn’t here. 

There was nothing she could do to bring him back.

She tilted the box, and the ring shimmered against the sunlight. It reflected in a green shift that bounced across her wall like it was somehow calling to her.

Marinette sat up and snapped the lid shut, shifting her phone against her ear, 

“Alya, can I call you back later, I need a second.”

“Moment of inspo?”

“You can say that, love you,” Marinette hung up and swung her feet off her bed. 

She walked over to her desk, shifting all of the clutter to the side as she slapped down the tiny ring box. 

“I can’t believe you left me too, Chat Noir. We were supposed to be partners forever and ever. There are villains everywhere, not just Hawkmoth. Didn’t you know that?” 

He must have known that. She turned over the box and read the taped over note, the paper having long since gone yellow with age. 

Exist For Love

Marinette snorted, “Exist for love, I’m existing, my love is gone. I couldn’t tell you but it was. I walked right away from him and he vanished,” her hands flew to her sketchbook and a pen. “Is that what you did, kitty? Is that why you kept flirting and pushing?” 

Her hands danced across the page of her sketchbook and she looked between the ring and what she was drawing. She wasn’t sure why she was drawing Chat Noir, but as she closed her eyes and tried to remember what he looked like, the image came easily to her.

Ten minutes later she had a sketch of Chat Noir reimagined. His shit eating grin was the same as she remembered but she put him in something different. She put him in a cropped sweatshirt and athletic leggings with attractive cut-outs around his calves. 

“Much better,” she tapped her pencil against the page. “Where did you go..”

***

Four years of helplessness didn’t suit her. Chat Noir would not sit idle for four years, thinking, hardly knowing what to do. He would tackle solving any problem without even thinking about it. That was the lesson he taught Marinette, to go after things as they were. She didn’t have to examine the details, that could always come later. 

Marinette stood at the edge of her balcony, flipping the ring between all of her fingers. She was going back to her dorm tomorrow, and the metal lay heavy against her fingertips. 

Like a burden in her hands. She wondered if Chat ever felt the same way, as if his miraculous was burdening him. Maybe that was a silly thought to entertain, he was always eager, excitable, naive as if he didn’t understand the weight of what they were doing. It could have been a front but he always seemed happy with it. 

This was her burden to carry, then. She now had both sides, creation in her ears, and destruction between her fingers. 

“Tikki,” she whispered, “Spots on.” 

A familiar warm glow tingled throughout her body, a familiar red encapsulating her. It had been years since she properly wore her miraculous. Tonight would be the first night Ladybug had been seen in Paris since the disappearance of Hawkmoth. 

Her first stop was the police station. She dropped gracefully in front of the entrance and walked inside. Everyone bustled about with late evening glee, a shift change, she guessed. 

Only a few gawked as she made her way to the front desk, 

“I’m here to request a file.”

“Ladybug, what are you-”

She smiled, “On a personal mission to find someone.”

“Of course!” The receptionist stuttered and picked up his phone, dialing a few numbers, “Can we get someone from the investigation unit to come to the front to help- yeah you won’t believe this. Ladybug is here!” 

It didn’t take much longer for a busy looking man to walk up and lead her through several different offices before apparently getting to his. 

“You can take a seat right there.”

Ladybug sat down and looked around, the office was rather cluttered. Pictures lined every inch of the wall, children, parents, happy families, drawings, cards. Definitely a busy man. 

“I’ve been told you’re on a mission to find someone.”

“I am,” she leaned forward, picking a piece of lint off her suit. 

“Are you trying to keep busy after Hawkmoth left?”

She shrugged, “Yes, and no. This was mostly a request from a close friend to look into. I’m not here just to save people from akumas after all.” 

“Mm, what a very heroic mindset.” 

The investigator was clearly disinterested in her, not as marveled as the other officers had been when she walked in. That didn’t matter, she was going to do this. 

For him. 

“Who are you trying to look for? If they weren’t filed, I’m afraid we can’t help you out.”

“I believe he was. Adrien Agreste.” 

The investigator’s brow cocked, “You’re going after him? You know, that case went cold last year.”

“I understand, I would just like his file, if you wouldn’t mind.” 

She watched the investigator get up to open a filing cabinet, rifling through what had to be hundreds of different files. 

“Not much was reported about his disappearance, his father only gave us a few details and his friends reported that it came suddenly. Fine one day, gone the next.” 

He handed her a manilla file folder with a label in simple blue ink. Adrien’s name, she hadn’t seen it written in years. 

The first year after he went missing, of course they all mourned together but it had been like he never existed in their lives in the first place. Most of everyone moved on. 

She didn’t, of course. Adrien was a lot of things to her, her first love, a friend, the only one who believed her when Lila was making up lies about her in school. 

“You’re only gonna get a bunch of dead ends.”

“Who knows,” she sighed, opening the folder. “He was famous, wasn’t he?” 

“He was, that doesn’t change the fact that nobody knew where he went off to, why he left, or what could have motivated doing anything potentially.. Drastic.”

Ladybug raised her brows, “Are you implying that he would harm himself?”

“It’s a possibility we have to consider, Ladybug. Anything could have happened to him. Four years and we haven’t received a single clue since we investigated the Agreste estate.” 

“You investigated the estate?”

“Yes, you can find all of the notes in the file. Do you want me to report that you’re taking over the case?”

She worried her lip and looked back down at the folder, smoothing her hands over the front. 

“That would be great.” 

“Consider it done, it’s good to have Paris’ favorite hero back.” 

“Thank you,” she rose to her feet, “For all your help Detective er…” 

The investigator looked her up and down, “Just call me August.” 

“Okay, thank you very much for your help, August,” the name felt foreign on her tongue.

She didn’t think it would be as easy as walking in and walking out, but it was. The file felt like a heavy weight as she clenched it in her hands. The last information left of Adrien Agreste, condensed between two pieces of paper. 

She swung up to the tallest building she could manage with her yo-yo. Maybe she was going against the rules of the miraculous. Was it selfish to look for someone she cared about? Or was it her duty? Tikki hadn’t mentioned anything yet. 

She sat down and took a breath, finally opening up the file. 

AGRESTE Adrien  
OCT 13 2000, 16  
LAST SEEN AROUND RIVER SEINE

Ladybug looked from the information to the picture provided, the last picture ever taken of Adrien. It was a selfie with Nino. The picture was nearly the same as any picture with Adrien, he looked gorgeous, and happy. The only real difference was his eyes, he looked.. Tired, but that could be explained away. At the time he went missing, he was working longer shoots for a different campaign with his father’s company. She distinctly remembered Adrien mentioning that some of the shoots were happening late at night and that he was staying up to study longer than normal.

She held the photo between her finger tips, ghosting over the side of Adrien’s cheek with her nail. 

“You have to be somewhere.” 

He had to be, there weren’t many places he could have gone. Another turn of the file and she came across the narrative that had been put together by friends’ accounts, his father, and her own statement. Ladybug was the last person who saw Adrien. 

She looked at the black ring on her finger, glinting in the sunset, 

“You have to be somewhere too. We could be working on this together, you know that, right? It was supposed to be you and me against the world. We were partners.” 

The ring didn’t reply back, she didn’t expect it to. She felt crazy, sitting there, talking to herself. But who else would she talk to? Alya still didn’t know she was Ladybug, nobody did. Nobody was going to know that she was working on a case that had gone cold. 

Ladybug closed the file and rose to her feet again. If she didn’t get home, her parents would worry, and she didn’t feel ready to read the narrative the detectives had put together just yet. 

***

Marinette sat on her balcony, the file laying in her lap as she picked at the dinner her mother made. 

“If you don’t look at it you won’t know where to start.” 

“I know Tikki, I know, I just.. I feel like if I read it, it’ll make sense and I won’t know where to begin.” 

The red kwami perched on her shoulder, nuzzling affectionately against her cheek, “I promise it won’t. You’re Ladybug, deducting variables and figuring things out is what you do best!” 

“I guess,” she sighed and opened it, flipping past Adrien’s picture to get to the narrative sheet. Skimming through it, she could tell it wasn’t well constructed, there were definitely spots where details were missing. 

The detectives who were on the case originally were clearly unable to tell where Adrien had been before he was at the Seine. He could have been at home, he could have been elsewhere but nobody except Ladybug saw him that night. The last text message he sent was to their class group chat, asking if anyone figured out a certain problem for their math homework. That text was sent two hours before she found him at the river. 

She thumbed over to the next page, notes perfectly lined out for her. There wasn’t anything substantial, only a small, bullet pointed list. 

Apparently an investigation of the Agreste estate led to nothing substantial. ‘Subject has many belongings, none of which seem to connect to his disappearance. Subject’s father refused to let us look through more rooms.’

‘Last text messages seem frivolous, no communication leads to Lahiffe’s theory’

That’s right, Nino’s theory. When Adrien’s case first hit the news, he had wondered aloud that Adrien might have found where his mother was and went to live with her without telling his father.  
“He might’ve just snapped and when he found where she was, just wanted to leave. We know how his father is.” 

Nino’s exact statement the way he said it to the detectives was also underlined. But without proof and a lack of evidence, it wasn’t enough for the case to close. 

Marinette didn’t think Adrien would leave on the fly. She was blinded by love back then but now she understood part of who he was. He was more often than not, afraid to go against his father, he wouldn’t leave without telling him, whether because he was too scared or because he’d try to piece his family back together again. 

She was so blind back then. 

“Anything?” 

“Nothing, Tikki. A bunch of dead ends. Apparently Gabriel didn’t let the detectives go through a few rooms though.” 

“That could be a place to start.”

“I’ll send a few emails,” Marinette closed the file and paced over to the edge of the balcony, folding her arms over the edge. She still loved the view, but it felt empty. She missed Chat Noir as her partner but she also missed him as a friend. 

The nights where he’d sweep down onto her balcony and start up conversation were the best. She could get him to talk for hours, and even if her day was terrible, he’d brighten it. Chat was different around her as Marinette, less obnoxious, somewhat more thoughtful. Maybe if he stuck it out longer, that side of him would’ve made itself known when she was Ladybug. 

Marinette sighed against the breeze, listening to the sounds of the city below. She heard a bell jingle and decided it was time to pack the rest of her things. Classes would be starting soon, and she’d have to remake her dorm studio to suit her needs. 

***

The move back into her dorm took her nearly an hour but she had her last box of sewing supplies in and she felt mostly accomplished. She was lucky her roommate was moving out, it left her a lot more room to reorganize and get her things together. 

Everything was the same after that, but the first thing she did was get out her laptop and Chat’s orange box. She replaced a different ring box on her shelf with it and stared. She didn’t know why she brought the box, lately she had been wearing his miraculous. It brought her an odd sort of comfort, to pretend that he was still there with her. 

She opened her laptop to her latest email, a draft to Nathalie Sancoeur. It took her a while to set up an encrypted email to use as Ladybug but so far, it had proven useful, Detective August kept her informed on other cases as well, for curiosity's sake, it seemed. 

Marinette gave the email another look over before hitting the send button. She was lucky that Nathalie’s email was still attached to Gabriel’s brand, it was the one chance she had to try and get into the manor as Ladybug. She knew she probably wouldn’t get a response for another day or so. Nathalie would probably have to ask Gabriel for permission to let Ladybug in to do her own investigation. 

She would practice patience, then. 

“You were never good at that,” she ran her fingers over the ring and finished unpacking the rest of her things. 

And then her computer beeped and she rose to her feet again, checking it. 

Nathalie replied within the half hour, and her email was firm, but polite. 

“Well?” Tikki flew over from Marinette’s bag and Marinette felt her jaw drop, 

“She’s giving me permission to look through the manor, to look through everything the previous detectives might have missed.”

“Wow! Marinette, that’s amazing!” 

Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she quickly typed up a response. She wanted to see the manor as soon as possible, she’d swing by that night. She hit send again and looked back at her kwami. 

“It is, but we still have to be careful. If they already checked through Adrien’s room, she needed to check other rooms. It was possible that he might have left a clue before he left for school that morning. There could be anything in the rooms that Gabriel didn’t let the detectives into before.

“You’re right, but we can’t stay too late you-”

“Have school, I know I know. I won’t let this get in the way of that, I promise.” 

She wouldn’t, she worked hard to get where she was in her classes, she wasn’t going to drop her dream for anything. 

But she’d have to do both now. Balance the case, and balance school. It felt like highschool again in the most comforting way.

As promised, she showed up at the Agreste mansion once the sun had set so she wouldn’t draw attention to herself. Nathalie said the gate was unlocked and it was. All she had to do was walk to the front doors. 

She gave them a steady knock and the door opened instantly. Nathalie was as put together as she was all the times Ladybug saw her, hair neatly tucked into a tight bun, suit immaculately pressed. The only difference was the evident exhaustion on her face. 

“Welcome, I apologize for the current state of the building.”

“That’s alright,” Ladybug tried to wave it off but.. 

The home was nothing like she remembered. A thick layer of dust had built up over everything, any furniture was covered up with canvas. Perhaps Gabriel abandoned it after his son went missing out of grief. 

“The detectives already looked through his room but I can give you a box of his most personal effects.”

“Did the detectives already look through them?”

“They didn’t seem to search thoroughly. Everything we have here was pulled out of Adrien’s school bag and his desk.”

Ladybug nodded, “I would like to look through it, then.” 

“I’ll go retrieve it, feel free to look around. This,” Nathalie pulled out a key and put it in her palm, “Will prove useful.”

“I can look into all the rooms? Would Mr. Agreste be okay with that?” 

Nathalie’s eyes darted to the floor before meeting hers again, “No, but you’re the only one that has picked his case back up.”

Ladybug nodded, “I appreciate your cooperation.”

“It’s good to have back one of Paris’ heroes again. Your other half is absent, I see.” 

She tightened her hands into fists, nodding, “He.. couldn’t make it.”

“I understand, follow me.” 

Nathalie led her up the stairs and she took her time to look around. She never had many opportunities to as Marinette. But now, she could see the mansion in all of it’s hollow glory. Gabriel covered up the furniture but he didn’t cover up the portraits. Adrien’s face followed her down the hall, expression kept blank in the presence of his father. 

She frowned and looked back at Nathalie, noticing the gray strands scattered through her hair. She didn’t think something like this would age her, she was after all, just Gabriel’s assistant. 

“You cared about Adrien a lot, don’t you?” 

Nathalie stopped and Ladybug had to jump back so she wouldn’t run into her. The woman turned around slowly and adjusted her glasses. 

“Of course I do.” 

“Why? Weren’t you just Gabriel’s assistant-” 

She was cut off as Nathalie spoke, “I was Gabriel’s assistant before Adrien was born. I was there when he was brought into this world. I watched him grow up and I looked after him every single day. Caring for him a lot doesn’t begin to describe how I felt towards him. He was..”

“A son to you?” 

Nathalie turned the other way and opened Adrien’s bedroom door, “The box is on his desk. I advise you to take it with you before you leave.”

“Why?”

“Just because his most personal things fit into one box, does not mean there are few of them. If you need anything, call for me.” 

Just like that, she was alone. Ladybug flicked the lights of the bedroom on and looked around. She remembered when she was 15, trying to write him a love letter, having to lie about it after she saw what could have happened. That joy felt more like a pit now as she looked around. 

The room seemed to be left untouched. Everything was covered in a layer of dust, the books on his shelves, his foosball table, even his bed. Everything was neat and tidy, as though Adrien had never been there in the first place. 

Finding the box was easy enough, she pulled back his computer chair and sat in it. She could appreciate how comfortable it was. The Agreste’s had more money than she would ever see in her lifetime and it always showed in little things like computer chairs, and decor. 

She took the lid off and looked inside, and the results were underwhelming. She didn’t know what she exactly expected, but school books, pencils, and a binder weren’t it. 

Ladybug took out the first few books, classic novels they had to read for class. A quick flip through proved their emptiness, just words on paper. Adrien probably knew most of the classics they read for class by heart. She was aware of how educated he was, smarter than he gave himself credit for, constantly doubting himself. 

It wasn’t obvious to her when they were teenagers but it became so much more obvious as she got older and could reflect properly, or rather that was how she felt after talking to Alya and Nino who agreed together, that Adrien never gave himself credit for anything. Always kind, and sensitive. 

That kindness was what made her fall head over heels in love with him, but now it felt more like an ache deep in her heart. The memories of a person who on paper, no longer existed. 

Ladybug opened the binder next and felt her eyes bug out a little. The binder was full to burst with papers, notes, letters, envelopes, an overwhelming surge of clutter in a vessel that looked well together. 

She sighed and started with the papers first. The first couple weren’t anything special, drafts for school assignments, idle notes, doodles. The most interesting thing about them were the lines of poetry Adrien scribbled to the side and crossed out neatly. The rest of them were handouts from class, worksheets, and short stories they had to analyze. 

Her eyes drifted up towards the pc in front of her. The monitor was also covered in dust along with the mouse. Adrien’s bedroom felt like the preservation of the last thing his family had left of him. 

Was Gabriel the same when his wife left? Everything was neat before, empty, pristine. This wasn’t the same sort of feeling she got from the place four years ago, not in the slightest. Adrien’s room always felt like a warm place in an abyss of cold. 

She decided she would keep the binder and look through it once she got back to her dorm. She wouldn’t have time to read everything here, it was getting late enough already. 

Ladybug popped her head out of Adrien’s room and caught Nathalie looking at another portrait on the wall, so she cleared her throat so as to not startle her. 

“Was everything sufficient?” Nathalie asked. 

“Not quite. I was wondering if I could come back another day to look through Adrien’s computer.”

“His computer?” 

“He might have left something on there that could tell us where he went.”

Nathalie nodded, “I can get the password to you next time.” 

“I appreciate all your help,” she started descending the stairs before her wrist was grabbed. For a moment, both women stood there in silence before Nathalie released Ladybug’s wrist. 

“Promise me you’ll find him, Ladybug.” 

“I promise I’ll find him. Have a great night, Miss Sancoeur.” 

Ladybug didn’t look back at her on the way out the door. She couldn’t, she couldn’t bear to look at the expression that could be on her face. She didn’t realize she would be the last hope in finding the missing boy. 

It felt unfair, to once again be on the pedestal of perfection when she had long since abandoned that responsibility. Maybe she shouldn’t have taken Adrien’s case, she was getting in over her head. 

But you already jumped, so you might as well swim.

She took a deep breath in, and then out. She was going to find Adrien Agreste. Ladybug was going to bring him back home.


	2. The Seed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finally talks to Plagg and makes an important phone call.

Marinette had been awake for nearly two days straight finishing up her latest fashion project. She finally got all the details onto her baroque themed gown. It was a beautiful piece and she swore it would stay in her collection for a long time once it got graded. A simple top should not have taken her a month to make but she was proud of herself nonetheless. 

She traced her hands over her intricate lacework and sighed, “This is going to make me crazy, Tikki.”  
  
“Every art student says that, take a break already.”   
  
She sat back down at her desk and sighed, opening up the binder she had taken from Adrien’s room. Taken wasn’t the right word for it, Nathalie said she could keep it for as long as she needed it, but she’d had it for weeks and hadn’t touched it.   
  
“I said a break, Marinette.”   
  
“This is my break,” she said, taking out all of the worksheets and drafts from school. All that was left inside were letters he was writing, and envelopes. Most of the letters were probably drafts too, paragraph after paragraph had been scribbled out as though he couldn’t find the right words he wanted to use.   
  


She started with the first one, short, and sweet, 

_ ‘Chloe,  _

_ Do you remember when we were five?’ _

That was crossed out, but he began again. 

_ ‘Dear Chloe,  _

_ Remember when we used to play together when we were five? I miss that.’ _

He crossed that out too, the next starts of the letter were crossed out but all had the same meaning.

_ ‘’Let’s go back to when we were five. You used to be nice, you were to me at least. Every time I was knocked down you helped me get back up. You were nice to Felix, too, what happened?’ _

That was the end of the first letter, and it was clear he folded it up with the intention of forgetting about it. Marinette had forgotten how close he and Chloe used to be but she felt foolish for it. They were childhood friends, they had a history together. She could hardly imagine Chloe ever being nice, even as a child, but Adrien clearly had a different experience with her.    


A few more letters were similar, addressed to Chloe. He must have been reflecting a lot about his friendships with people, there were two about Nino, praising and thanking him for his patience and kindness. Neither were sent of course, just drafted up pieces of words that fell upon no one’s eyes but his and now hers.   
  
She stacked them together in a pile with a paperclip and went to the next one after that.   
  
It was different from the rest.   
  
It was titled to her, well not her, but to Ladybug. 

_ ‘Dear Ladybug,  _ _   
_ _ You have something of mine-’ _

He crossed that out , and restarted two lines down.

_ ‘Dear Ladybug,  _

_ You have something that belongs to me, I want it back.’  _

Marinette froze, Adrien didn’t continue to elaborate. The rest of the paper was blank and only that section was left, not even crossed out. What did she have that could possibly have belonged to Adrien?   
  
She needed air. She pushed herself away from her desk and slipped a pair of shoes on. The stairs felt like nothing until she felt warm spring air hitting her face.   
  
She walked a circle around her dorm building, listening to her heart throb in her ears.

When she read what Adrien wrote, it felt like she could actually hear his voice. If she closed her eyes he could imagine him sitting before her, telling her, 

_ ‘You have something that belongs to me, I want it back _ .’

“I don’t know what you mean,” she laughed, “You didn’t exactly clarify, you aren’t helpful! I just want to find you, why couldn’t you leave anything substantial behind?”    
  


She smoothed a hand through her hair and kept walking, deciding to detour to walk around her college’s small campus. 

With spring came new life, flowers were starting to bloom and the shrubbery was becoming green again. As dusk finally started to fall she started to walk to the courtyard. Maybe if she sat down and thought about it, she could figure it out.   
  
What did she have that belonged to Adrien that she took as Ladybug?   
  
She closed her eyes and kept walking forward. Maybe she had forgotten, if she took anything it might have been longer than the time before he went missing. It could have been from when they first met, or when she saved him that one time.. Anything, it could be anything.   
  
When she opened her eyes again, she realized she was standing in the middle of the courtyard and she decided to focus on the fountain as it reflected all of the sunset colors in the sky. She braced her hands against the edge and looked into her own reflection.   
  
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Princess?”   
  
Marinette whipped around as every hair on her body stood on end, “Chat?” she questioned aloud, but there was no answer. She was alone in the courtyard. Great, now she was hallucinating the one person she wanted to talk to the absolute most.   
  
She hit her hands against the water in frustration. What the hell was wrong with her? She was Ladybug for god’s sake she should find one person; it should be her partner but not even she knew where he had run off to. He got to walk away scotch free from everything and she was alone.   
  
She brought her hands to her eyes and scrubbed, then scrubbed harder until all she saw were specks of light.   
  
When she turned back around she saw him, sitting on a bench across the way from her. At first she thought she was seeing things but it had to be him,, his bell was catching the last bit of light from the sun, his ears pinned back on his head.   
  
She didn’t speak a single word. For a moment all she could do was stare at him and then at the black ring on her finger. Without the activation from Plagg, it wouldn’t conceal itself. Nobody ever got a close look at the ring, and without the green paw print it was hardly recognizable, just a chunky piece of jewelry for Marinette’s collection.   
  
When she blinked he was gone.   
  
She might be more tired than she previously thought. Her project must have completely worn her out.

The walk back to her dorm was silent and colder than when she had started. 

***   
  


She twisted the ring on her finger back and forth as she paced her room. One month into her investigation as Ladybug and she hadn’t found a single lead. Adrien’s computer proved to be a useless effort. All that was on there were pictures, and websites he visited frequently. Nothing scandalous, nothing out of the ordinary for a normal boy.  
  
A normal boy, with a nearly normal life.   
  
Marinette opened his file again to look at his picture. Her eyes darted from his smile, back to his tired eyes. When he modeled, everyone complimented his eyes. Adrien had a kind face but the eyes of a predator, eyes that bore into your soul and sought nothing but the truth.   
  
She flipped to the letter he wrote to her, or to Ladybug. There wasn’t much of a difference anymore. She still couldn’t figure out what Adrien meant when he wrote that. She had something of his, and he wanted it back. But what did she take from him in the first place?  
  
“What do you think he could’ve meant, Chat? I don’t think I took anything of his as Ladybug.”   
  
She tapped her desk three times and looked up, startling slightly but she didn’t dare make a sound.   
  
He was there again. Chat Noir was. Or at least, it looked like the ghost of him. She knew she was staying up too late but this.. Was too much.   
  
Chat leaned against her windowsill, face illuminated by the city lights. He didn’t move a single muscle, just stood there.   
  
Marinette stared at him and looked at him like she looked at Adrien’s pictures. Chat looked the same as he did four years ago, suit and all but in his face he looked.. Exhausted, pallid.   
  
She ran her fingers over the top of his ring and like that he was gone again. Nothing in her windowsill, just the lights of the city.   
  
“Marinette, did you see that?”  
  
Marinette jumped out of her skin, “Tikki! Don’t do that, you scared me half to death,” she sighed, combing her fingers through her hair as she looked back down at Adrien’s picture.   
  


Of course she saw it, how could she not? Was her mind playing a cruel trick on her?    


“I’m sorry but.. You saw it too, right? Chat was in the window just now?”  
  
She looked down at the ring again and felt like it was mocking her. A heavy, black piece of metal, glinting in the limited light of her desk lamp.   
  
“I did. I thought I was just hallucinating but..”   
  
They were both silent for a second, and Marinette contemplated. When she first found the ring, she had a short conversation with Plagg. She asked why Chat had given up his miraculous and the kwami shouted that he couldn’t tell her.   
  
It felt like a bullshit answer, so she left him to his own devices inside his miraculous. Perhaps that was cruel of her, no, it definitely was. Chat Noir was Plagg's first owner in a long time, and the bond they shared was obviously close.   
  
Marinette pulled the ring off her finger, “Plagg, we need to talk.”   
  
The black kwami popped out of the ring with an audible pop, rubbing his eyes, “Great, what do _you_ want?”  
  
“I need to ask you something.”   
  
Plagg looked around the room, “Hey this place is new isn’t it-”  
  
“Focus.”  
  
“Alright, alright. You can’t blame me, you left me in there for years!”   
  
Marinette rolled her eyes, “Sorry, what can I do to make it up to you?”  
  
“Ask your question first and I’ll think about it,” the kwami plopped in her palm and looked up at her.   
  


He was weaker. Plagg always carried a heavy weight to him, as though the extent of his power was just that supreme. Now he felt.. Lighter, as though that power no longer belonged to him.   
  
She took a breath, and asked,   
  
“What happened to Chat Noir before he renounced you?”  


“What?”    
  


“Before Chat renounced you and gave you back to me. What happened to cause that?”  
  
Plagg looked deep in thought before he deflated. For five minutes the kwami didn’t speak. Marinette didn’t want to push him, she couldn’t risk not getting an answer out of him.   
  
“I don’t know how to explain it, he.. Broke.”   
  
“He broke?”   
  
Plagg nodded, “It happened the last time he patrolled, he started getting panicky and I tried to comfort him but he was.. I don’t know. He cried afterwards, for hours, but he didn’t tell me anything. Next thing I know, he’s renouncing me and then you picked me back up again.”   
  
She blinked a few times and took in what the kwami said. Chat panicked, he never panicked. He did everything without thinking, or at least that was what it seemed like. He was impulsive, enthusiastic. She couldn’t imagine him panicking, not to the extent Plagg described.   
  
The kwami nestled into her palm, “He was the best you know, the best master I ever had.”   
  
“There has to be a way to find him,” she reassured him, “The reason why I asked is because Tikki and I just saw him near the window.”   
  
“As.. Chat?”  
  
Marinette nodded and Plagg’s eyes blew out wide, “No.. no, that’s not possible.”   
  
“I know.”  
  
Plagg flew out of her hands and towards the window, “He was here? What was he doing?”  
  
“Just staring at the sky, I think,” Marinette wasn’t sure but the panic the kwami was displaying felt abnormal.   
  
“There’s no way..”   
  
“Plagg, what did you do?” Tikki zoomed through the air, knocking the black kwami down onto the windowsill.   
  
“I didn’t do anything! Technically he did it, he should have told Ladybug that the ring cracked!”   
  
“The ring did what!?” Marinette jumped up and picked up the black ring, examining it thoroughly. How had she not noticed before? She’d been wearing the ring on and off for so long but there it was, clear as day across the top, a crack where a green paw print should be.   
  
The room fell silent and she traced the crack with her fingernail. Chat should have told her, she could have fixed it if he was there. She could have had four more years with him if he said something about it.   
  
But he panicked, the ring broke and he panicked. No, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t exactly what Plagg said. Plagg said that Chat broke. Any alterations to a miraculous could affect the user, it was a simple rule. If the ring broke while he was using it..   
  
Did he shatter then? Did Chat Noir shatter mentally when his ring broke? Marinette wasn’t completely educated on the ins and outs of what the black cat miraculous was capable of both in the past and the present. She knew that Tikki and Plagg were both insanely strong forces but Plagg was always different, he seemed to crave something Chat was somehow able to ignore. 

Why didn’t she notice sooner? She was a horrible partner. If he broke then there was no way she could get him back or even find him, unless.   
  
“Plagg, you can’t give me his identity, can you?”  
  
Plagg hesitated, “I could but.. You both swore not to tell each other, he took that to heart, you know. Besides, I don’t think it would be helpful to know who he is anyways. What can he even help with? Hawkmoth stopped attacking years ago.”   
  
Marinette sat back down at her desk and felt both kwamis perch on her shoulder as she pointed down at Adrien’s picture,   
  


“Because, I picked up a case. And if there’s anything Chat was good at, it was finding things,” she pulled out the letter again, “I mean look at this. I still can’t figure out what Adrien meant here, I never took anything from him.”   
  
Plagg swooped down and took the paper from her, reading it over, “Where did you get this?”   
  
“It was given to me by Nathalie, why- Hey! Don’t touch that.”   
  
“Have you even read everything in here yet?”   
  
“Plagg,” Tikki warned but Marinette cut her off,   
  
“I’ve been working on it! I’m still in college, you know, I can’t devote my entire life to this freakin’ cold case.”   
  
Plagg looked down at the file on her desk and his eyes trailed back up to hers, “It’s not a cold case,” he said with finality, retreating back into the miraculous.   
  
Marinette stared down at the black ring.   
  
He said it wasn’t a cold case.   
  
She picked up the file again and read over the notes, and the narrative. It was declared cold already, no sign of why he disappeared or where he could have gone. Adrien Agreste might as well be considered a dead man. 

But, Plagg said the case wasn’t cold at all. There was a connection then, a connection between Adrien’s disappearance and Chat breaking. Did they know each other? It was possible they were close, even if Chat didn’t mention it. The ring itself had broken though, cracked on the front. She touched over it with the pad of her finger.   
  
There had to be something to what Plagg said, they were connected somehow, in a way Marinette never considered before. Were Chat and Adrien friends? Surely Adrien would have mentioned if he was friends with Chat Noir but he also might have understood to keep it private for his own sake.   
  
She worried her lip and looked down at his picture again. They did look similar, two exhausted boys. She remembered how tired Chat was when they were looking for Adrien, maybe they were closer than she thought. But, why would Chat keep a secret like that from her?   
  
Surely, he would have brought it up. He mentioned talking to him offhandedly before when akumas involved the model but.. Never much more after that. Chat could’ve gloated about it, held it over her head but he never did. He never brought it up, Adrien was seldom a topic of the conversations they shared together..   
  
There was a clear connection though, Plagg wouldn’t have pointed it out otherwise. Someway, somehow, Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir were connected.   
  
‘ _You have something of mine, I want it back.’_

Marinette put the ring back in its box and placed it on her shelf again. If anyone new anything about the connections of miraculous users to people, it would be Alya.    
  


She had a phone call to make. 

***

Her phone was balanced between her shoulder and ear while she worked on her latest project. She and Alya had been on the phone for well over an hour, catching up on their lives.    
  


“And I told Nino, there’s no way we’re painting the nursery that color of green, seriously, it was the color of vomit.”   
  
Marinette laughed, “You should do a pale yellow, it’s a happy color.”   
  
“You think?”  
  
“I go to school for this kind of stuff, but I actually had something I wanted to ask you.”   
  


She heard Alya shift her phone, “Yeah, go for it. What’s up?”

Marinette pinned a seam into place and sighed, “When you ran the Ladyblog and did interviews. Did Chat Noir ever mention having a close friend in his civilian life?”   
  
Alya sighed, “I’m.. at the top of my head, no. Why are you asking? You’ve never really been interested in this stuff.”   
  
“I was just thinking about it, I guess. You know Chat Noir returned the ring to Ladybug so I was just thinking about it.”   
  
“Why though?”  
  


Marinette’s hand hovered over her mannequin and she looked down at the file on her desk again,   
  
“You’re gonna think I sound crazy.”  
  
“You always sound crazy but go on.”   
  
She rolled her eyes and moved the phone to rest on her other shoulder as she pushed another pin into place, narrowly missing her fingertip,   
  
“I think Adrien’s disappearance and Chat Noir’s resignation are connected. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and the timeline was pretty similar.”   
  
“Hold on,” Alya cut her off, “Do you think Chat gave up the ring because Adrien went missing?”  
  
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? The loss of a close friend that.. Can do something to people,” she sighed, “I told you it was crazy. I was reading some stuff last night and it just hit me in my gut, y’know? That maybe they’re connected somehow.”   
  
She only heard Alya’s breathing on the other line for a minute before the other woman started talking again,   
  
“I never considered that before. How did you come to that conclusion?”  
  
“It just hit me the other night when I was reading old news articles,” her eyes drifted to the open letter on her desk. She hadn’t been able to read through the rest of them. Adrien apparently had a lot of things he wanted to tell people but never found the right words. Over a dozen letters were started and scrawled out, addressed to their friends, his father, and his mother.   
  
The ones to his mother hurt the most to read, and she felt guilty for reading something so personal of his.   
  
“Maybe they did know each other. Adrien talked about Chat Noir sometimes, just never in too much detail. If he knew him personally, then maybe he was trying to keep that hidden so people wouldn’t ask him too many questions.”   
  
Marinette put down her project and went to her desk, taking out a scrap piece of paper and a pen as she began to write down everything Alya told her.   
  


“Adrien was also a fan of Ladybug, he was on the Ladyblog website all the time. We talked about her a lot together.”   
  
“You did?”   
  


Alya laughed sadly, “Yeah, he liked watching the videos I got of her saving Paris. He said they were somehow cathartic. I think he might have had a crush on her but like, who didn’t, y’know?”   
  
_You have something of mine._

“Really? Wow, I didn’t catch on like at all.”   
  
“You were busy in lala land fawning all over him, I don’t honestly think you listened to him very often. That’s not a dig, whenever Adrien and I talked about Ladybug, it was normally amongst ourselves, sometimes Nino was there.”   
  
“Did he ever go into detail about what he thought about her?”   
  
“Why, you jealous?”   
  
Marinette sighed, “No, I grew past that crush.” she didn’t grow past it. Her crush had walked away, disappearing from everyone and everything. She didn’t have a choice, Adrien wasn’t around anymore, her feelings withered and went away along with him.   
  
“Just curious, Alya.”   


“He admired her a lot, thought she was strong and believed she was exactly the kind of hero Paris needed. He said his bodyguard also had an interest in both her and Chat Noir.”   
  
“Gorilla?”  
  
“Him, yeah. Adrien was closer with him and his father’s assistant.”   
  
“I remember that,” she kept writing as Alya talked. Eventually she switched the topic to her memories of Adrien and she wrote those down too. Apparently he and Alya had never been particularly close but he would occasionally ask her for advice.   
  
“He didn’t really have great social skills, so sometimes he’d ask me or Nino for help if he wanted to approach someone but couldn’t figure out how.”   
  
But he had apparently known Chat Noir. Maybe he was asking him for similar advice, maybe they were both tone deaf and bonded over it. Marinette didn’t know nor could she figure out the connection between them other than the slim possibility they had been friends.   
  
“I see, thanks for telling me. I just…”   
  
“Don’t tell me you think you can find him. Mari, he’s been gone for four years now. Even Nino thinks he went with his mother and-”   
  
“Someone else is calling, I gotta go Alya, I’ll talk to you later, bye,” she hung up before Alya could get another word in. She didn’t believe that Adrien went to be with his mother, he would have told someone, anyone, if that was the case. It was evident from what she found on his computer, Adrien loved his mother. He would have told them, he would have been bursting with happiness.   
  
He looked sad before he disappeared, not the joy he would have felt if he found out where his mother had been. Marinette knew that was certain. 

  
She shoved another pin in her project and put everything else away, picking up Adrien’s file and tucking it under her arm along with all the letters she put together in order of importance.   
  
“Marinette, where _are_ you going?”   
  
“Back home, I need to find something I left there.”   
  


Marinette took off, locking her door behind her. The trip back home was only a fifteen minute walk but in the oncoming heat of summer, it felt brutal. She was lucky it wasn’t too late in the afternoon, she at least had time to get back to her parents’ place while it was still bright and sunny. Maybe she would pick up lunch on the way home and make a whole trip out of it.   
  
She knew exactly what she was getting. Before Adrien went missing, she kept a few things of his, or rather, things he gave to her. She treasured his lucky charm until the day he vanished. After that she packed away every single memory of him into a single box, shoved away in her closet. She knew exactly where it was. 

Once she got home and waved off her parents, assuring them that she left something she needed for a project, she was able to get back into her room, now much more barren than it used to be.   
  
“I still don’t get why we came back,” Tikki’s arms crossed as she floated about the room.   
  
“For this,” Marinette opened her closet and pulled out the small box. The contents were simple, nothing but folded up posters and images of Adrien.   
  
And the lucky charm he made for her. She pulled out the beads carefully and looked at it. It truly became a relic, untouched by the years it spent locked away. It looked exactly the same as it was the day Adrien gifted it to her. For months she carried it around with her   
  
“Was this it, Adrien? I never took it from you, it was a gift.”   
  
She set the charm to the side and kept digging. There was nothing else she could think of, and she didn’t take anything from him as Ladybug. Marinette took his file again and flipped through everything she shoved inside.   
  
“Did Chat take it and give it to me?”   
  


She wished the answers to her questions would appear on the papers he wrote, like a secret waiting to be discovered. She flipped through them again before turning them around entirely.   
  
Marinette thumbed through the pages before she caught it, a crease in one of the papers.   
  
She took it out and folded it out, crinkling up the paper in the process. There were only a few words, equally as scratched out as all the other letters were.   
‘

_ I exist, I’m a person’ _

She heard the door to the balcony snap close. When was it left open? She shoved the letters back into the file and abandoned it as she went to investigate.   
  
She pushed open the door and climbed up as the sun was beginning to set. The sky was painted in bright pinks and purples, not a single cloud in sight. When she looked forward she saw him, and she knew exactly what she was seeing. He was no mirage, he was real, she was seeing him with her own two eyes.   
  
“Chat Noir.”   
  


He turned slowly and examined her, his eyes drifting up and down slowly before he resided in leaning against the balcony again, head faced towards the sky.   
  
She didn’t dare move a step forward. Marinette stood as straight as an arrow as she looked at him. Logically, she knew he wasn’t the real thing, it wasn’t possible. The ring was locked in her dorm room, in an inconspicuous box that not many knew she had in the first place.   
  
“I’m running out of time,” he spoke slowly, his voice hoarse, tired. Chat’s shape flickered in the sun, the colors of his suit desaturating to a slate gray color before returning to its usual inky black state.   
  
“Out of time for what, Chat? Please, you can talk to me.”   
  
Chat hesitated, he looked back at her and then forward again, “I’ve been looking for you for so long…” 

Marinette nodded, “But, I’m here now. I just need you to tell me where you are, I’ll find you.”   
  
Chat finally turned and looked at her fully as though he was seeing her clearly for the first time.   
  


“I want to help you, please tell me how to help you.”    


He worried his lip, fingers tapping together nervously. Why was he so nervous? Chat was never nervous, she never saw him in such a state as he was before her.   
  
His eyes finally trailed up again, meeting hers straight on. He looked the same as he was when they were sixteen, as if he had been frozen in time. The only difference was his exhaustion, tired beyond his years.   
  
“..August knows.”   
  
“What?” 

Chat looked down, “He knows,” a pained expression took over his face and he vanished again, as though he never was there in the first place.   
  
Marinette ran to the spot where he stood, touching the railing, looking everywhere but he was gone. One second he was there and the next he wasn’t. He felt like a mirage she couldn’t quite grasp.   
  


“Come back.. Please come back…”   
  
At least she knew where to go now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy! finished editing chapter two hehe. hopefully this answers some questions u guys had. if y'all wanna follow my tumblr for more ml content its @razndazzle tysm for reading!!


	3. Church Yard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette talks to Detective August, and Plagg, and someone she never imagined she would talk to again.

August stirred a mug of coffee idly as Ladybug sat across from him. His eyes focused more intently on his drink than on her. He was anxious and she was reading him like a book. Chat gave her one hint of a clue, and she was going to take it.    
  


“I found some new evidence.”   
  
“About the Agreste case?”   
  


“No,” she tapped her nails against the arm of the chair, examining August again. The first time they met, she was too anxious to properly look at him. It was easier in the light of the morning sun to make out his features as the sun came in through the window. His hair was salt and pepper colored, mostly going white towards his temples although in the face he didn’t look nearly as old. His eyes were creased, maybe he was easier to smile than he let on. Other than that he was a rather average looking, middle aged man.   
  
So why on Earth would Chat have mentioned his name? Did they talk about Hawkmoth together? Did Chat think it’d be easier to involve the police?   
  
“Chat Noir mentioned your name, actually.”  
  
“I thought he was gone.”   
  
Ladybug nodded, “I found it in our messages to each other,” the lie fell easily from her tongue and she watched August’s knuckles go white around the handle of his mug as he took a long sip. “Did you guys talk at all?”  
  
“Only a few times,” he put the mug down and crossed over to the window, closing the curtains and fastening them closed. He looked serious, more serious than he was when they first met.   
  


“You didn’t tell me.”  
  
“You didn’t ask. Why did you guys talk?”   
  
August’s eyes slowly met hers before he sat down again, leaning back with a heavy sigh.   
  
“Because, I have a miraculous.”   
  


“You could have mentioned that sooner,” she eased her grip, moving her hands into her lap to make herself less intimidating. “Why didn’t you- or he tell me that?”   
  
“I asked him not to tell you, it’s been in my family for generations and so far there has been no reason to activate it again.”   
  
Ladybug tilted her head, “How did he find out you had it?”   
  
“That is the question, isn’t it? I’m not sure, he only told me he managed to translate some old piece of artwork and that my collar looked a little too familiar so he questioned me about it until I gave him an answer.”   
  
Translated an old piece of artwork? Unless August meant the grimoire, she had no idea what that meant. Maybe Chat saw art at a museum and was able to draw his own conclusions and clearly went to confirm them. Was he ever going to tell her or was he serious about keeping a stranger’s secret?   
  


“That sounds like something he’d do,” she sighed and pressed her fingers to her temple.   
  
“But, I thought you were focusing on Adrien, not your partner.”   
  
“I’ve come across some evidence that makes me think the two incidents are connected, Adrien disappeared, and months later, Chat returned the miraculous. I think it’s possible that they might have known each other. Grieving can take a toll on how we perceive things, if Chat was mourning Adrien’s disappearance he, well, he could’ve convinced himself it was time to turn in the miraculous.”  
  


August stared at her, his eyes as cold and gray as ice, “You don’t seriously believe that.”   
  
“It’s a theory, thank you,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “There’s nothing in that file that can give me a single clue as to where Adrien went, and Chat didn’t exactly give me an explanation when he left either.”   
  
“Maybe they were lovers.”  
  
She snorted, “Absolutely not.”   
  
“What makes you think that?”   
  
Ladybug turned to him seriously, “Chat’s told me about every crush he’s ever had on a person, including myself and a girl he was dating for about a year. Nobody he mentioned fit Adrien’s description,” and Adrien had never been seen around another blonde boy that wasn’t his cousin. She would know, she was obsessed with him.   
  
“Fair point, forget I mentioned it. But doesn’t this lead us back to square one? We still don’t know much, unless you think Chat somehow knows where Adrien went.”   
  
“It’s a possibility, but I also have no idea where Chat Noir is, or who he is under the mask. That’s actually why I’m here. When was the last time you talked to Chat Noir?”   
  
August was quiet for a moment, thinking. His lips drew into a thin line before he spoke,   
  
“I suppose about two weeks before he resigned, but we didn’t talk about Adrien.”   
  
“What did you talk about then?”   
  
The investigator shrugged, “About the miraculi, the science behind them. He..” August’s eyes widened, “You know he brought up a point I haven’t been able to forget.”   
  
“Would you mind if I wrote it down?”  
  
“I encourage it, Ladybug. You should make a habit of recording anyone you talk to. You have no idea what people let slip into their everyday conversations.”   
  
“Noted,” she said, pulling out a notepad and pen, “Continue.”   
  
“He told me that he wondered what happened when the physical jewels became damaged. Specifically, the impact the damage could have on the powers of the miraculous.”   
  
She wrote that down and noted the crack on the front of the black cat miraculous. So he had come to August to ask a question about that but not to her. That was weird but she didn’t bring that up to August yet.   
  
“The peacock miraculous was broken a majority of the time it was in use, he could have been wondering about that,” she added. “It seems that when that jewel was broken, the consequences caused illness in the wearer.”   
  
August nodded thoughtfully, “Yes but, he didn’t bring that up at all. He was being very general, as though he wondered if it was different depending on the miraculous and level of damage. I believe he only came to me because my family has a history with our miraculous that has stretched on for centuries. I don’t know the ins and outs, but I am knowledgeable on some subjects involving the jewels.”  
  
“Did he mention anything else?”

The investigator worried his lip, getting up again to reopen the curtains, examining the streets outside.   
  
“He said that he hadn’t slept in over two weeks, and that perhaps the paranoia was getting to him before he left.”   
  
Ladybug tapped her pen against the paper, scrawling that down with a bunch of question marks.   
  
“He never brought that up to me.”   
  
August shrugged rather simply, “I don’t think anyone wants to admit their weak moments to those they are closest to. He was your support, wasn’t he? I imagine he didn’t want you to think he couldn’t handle his role.”   
  
“We were equals.”   
  
“Paris thinks otherwise, Ladybug. You had a public dynamic that showed how you both operated. He supported you in every fight and battle like a pillar, and followed your lead with respect even if he was doubtful. Would you have done the same for him?”   
  
Ladybug stared at the back of his head, the sunlight glinting off an ornate clasp at the back of his neck, two silver wolves biting a single ring.   
  
That must have been the miraculous he spoke about.   
  
“I like to think I would’ve,” she rose to her feet, “But we never faced that problem before he resigned, so I can’t say for sure what I would have done. Thank you for your time today.”  
  
“Stay in touch.”   
  


“I will.” 

***

Originally, she said that Chat would have told her if he had a crush, but she knew that wasn’t fully true. That being said, if _Adrien_ had a crush on Chat Noir, he probably wouldn’t have told her about it as Marinette and they didn’t know each other well when she was Ladybug. If he told anyone it would’ve been someone close to him, Nino.   
  
It was decided then, she would go talk to Nino.   
  
***  
  
She transformed a short ways away from Nino and Alya’s shared apartment. They both chose to stay in Paris for their careers and for school, a smart move, really. Marinette ruffled her hair and straightened out her daycoat as she wandered up the stairs to knock on their door.   
  


Truthfully, it had been a long time since she saw any of her friends in person. School kept her busy, and when she wasn’t at school she was at the bakery. Now, when she wasn’t in the bakery, she was focusing on trying to find Adrien and Chat Noir. Freetime once again, didn’t exist to her anymore.   
  
It was an odd comfort she missed, to be as busy as she was. No time to dawdle and think too much about what she can’t change, only focus on what she can.   
  
She heard a bustling noise before the door opened and Nino grinned at her. She took him in, examined everything she could. He was growing out facial hair, still wore the same glasses.   
  
“Sorry to come without warning,” Marinette laughed and studied him more. Nino was still quick to smile.   
  
“Don’t worry about it, it’s been forever, come in, come in. I was just finishing up a bit of paperwork for my job. Do you want a coffee or anything?”  
  
“No, I won’t be here very long, I.. actually wanted to ask you a question and thought it would be better if we sat down. Do you have a second?”   
  
Nino hesitated, his eyes meeting Marinette’s briefly before he led her into the living room and sat in a rather cushy recliner. Marinette took her seat on the couch, crossing one leg over the other, hands perched in her lap.   
  
“Is it about.. Adrien?” Nino’s voice quickly went from chipper to somber, and he didn’t take his eyes off a stray pen on the coffee table.   
  
Marinette nodded, “It is, but I don’t think it’s a question you’ve gotten yet.”   
  
“Uhm- okay, shoot then, I guess.”   
  
“Did Adrien ever.. Talk about another guy friend of his? Someone kind of charismatic, a little obnoxious.”   
  


Nino’s eyes widened and he snorted out a laugh, “God no, I don’t think he would’ve liked to be around people like that. Anytime anyone was obnoxious in class I could literally watch him half-glare at his desk, he was clearly annoyed by people like that but he was-”   
  
“Too nice to say it.”  
  
Nino sighed, leaning back more comfortably, “Yeah. I don’t think I ever heard him talk bad about anyone, I could tell he would get annoyed but he wouldn’t say anything. He believed pretty firmly in positive reinforcement.”   
  
Marinette nodded, “Well, in that case. Can I ask another odd question?”  
  
“Are you just missing him or something?” Nino’s tone changed again. Marinette ignored it. She remembered how affected Nino was when Adrien disappeared. He was a wreck for nearly a year afterwards and only recently began to pick up the pieces left behind of himself.   
  
“No,” she laughed, lightly, to try and settle the mood, “I mean- yes, always. What I mean is that, I realized recently while doing a project that I didn’t really know Adrien very well at all.”   
  
He nodded, and added, “I don’t think a lot of us did, not even me. He was like a chick coming out of its shell, he didn’t share himself very openly.”   
  
“Oh, I imagined he told you everything.”   
  
“He didn’t like to talk about himself, the things he did, yeah, all the time. But not himself, it was kinda hard to get a solid opinion out of him, like chipping away at a wall.”   
  
Marinette never imagined Adrien as someone that was hard to talk to about opinions. He clearly had a fine set of morals. Was she the only one that could see that about him as well?   
  
“I see.”   
  
“But what did you want to ask?”   
  


She felt her cheeks darken. She felt ridiculous, Nino would probably start laughing at her but she kept talking anyways.   
  
“Did Adrien like, like men, y’know.. Romantically?”   
  
Nino snorted out a laugh, covering his mouth with his hand, “I’m sorry- ask that again?”   
  


“Did Adrien like men romantically?” She asked again, fighting off her own smile. It had been a long time since she saw Nino laugh so freely.   
  
“That’s what you came here to ask?”   
  
“Yes it is! What’s so wrong with it?”   
  


“You could’ve asked this when he was actually here, I would’ve loved to see how he would respond,” Nino settled back down, exhaling softly as he looked through the window.   
  
“Well..?”   
  
Nino looked lost in his thoughts for a moment before he spoke, “Yeah. He mentioned it a few times in passing. Not like he sat and told me: ‘hey man I like dudes’ but like, he’d look at other guys for a little longer in that sense. I always thought he was bi but you knew how his old man was. I think if Adrien was aware he liked men, he probably didn’t want to say anything in case it got around to his father.   
  
“That makes sense.. Well, follow up question. What kinds of guys did he look at like that?”   
  
“Not many, actually. Luka, god- he would stare at Luka and look absolutely mystified for ages. Remember when we all spent the night with the Couffaines? Adrien couldn’t take his eyes off of him.”   
  


“He.. liked Luka?”    
  


“Probably had a little crush on him, but who didn’t?” 

Marinette’s face felt hot. She didn’t have room to talk, she dated Luka for well over a year herself. He was a very fine man.   
  
“That’s true, I guess.”   
  
“Why do you ask?”   
  
“You said you didn’t want to talk about him.. Like that.”   
  
“Well, count me curious,” Nino leaned forward, “I’ll talk about it for a few, since we got to talk about good memories with him today.”   
  


Marinette beamed, and then retracted back into herself. She had to find the right words to say. She knew that talking with the investigators messed with Nino a lot, she couldn’t come across that way with him. They were still friends.   
  
“I.. was thinking about it, I guess. Like you said, if Adrien’s dad somehow found out Adrien liked boys we can only guess the kind of terrible reaction he would have. I was up really late last night and I thought maybe he.. Ran off with a guy. Love can be an incredibly powerful motivation.”   
  
She looked up at Nino again and his eyes were focused again on the window. His lip was caught in his teeth as he drummed his fingers against his thigh. He was actually considering what Marinette was saying. Surely, if Nino was Alya, she would have already been laughed off.   
  
“That’s an interesting theory but it just doesn’t sound like something he’d do. Y’know, I was sure that when he went missing, he went to go live with his mom or something. But then I remembered how he talked about her and I knew he would tell us, definitely, he would be overjoyed. But, if he ran off to be with a guy, he definitely would’ve kept that more hidden except.. Adrien was kinda easy to read when he’s crushing on someone super hard. Plus, he was still with Kagami.”   
  
“Just because he was with her doesn’t mean he couldn’t have liked another guy-”   
  
Nino cut her off quickly, “You didn’t hear Adrien’s loyalty rants, he would never.”   
  
She nodded again, “Sorry.”   
  
“It’s fine, I- it’s just hard to talk about him sometimes. Everyone seems to have a different idea in their head of the kind of person Adrien was and the truth is, none of us got to know him that well. I was his best friend and there’s still shit I know he would never tell me but I accepted it, y’know?”   
  
Marinette nodded, making a mental note of everything Nino was saying. She couldn’t write it down in the open but she wanted to try her best to remember any detail. It was rare to get Nino to talk about Adrien like this.   
  
“Because he was still a good friend, he wanted everyone to be successful at everything they wanted to do, tried his damn best to support whenever he could and still felt like shit when he couldn’t be there. Not like he had a choice, his father was breathing down his neck every fucking day. He didn’t have space to just, exist. At first I wondered why Adrien would walk away, because it seems like that’s the case right? Ladybug saw him before he disappeared, but now I think I kind of understand.”   
  
“Understand what, Nino?”  
  
“Maybe, Adrien snapped. Maybe, his father finally pushed him too far and he broke, snapped, whatever, and just wanted to get the hell away from anything.”   


“You don’t think he would’ve-”   
  
“Killed himself? I don’t want to think that’s something he would do, ever. He wanted learn and do so many things, we had plans for the day after he vanished, remember? We were all supposed to go to the park and play soccer. That’s why I don’t think he went that far but.. He has family in other places. His aunt lives in England, and I’m sure Gabriel has some sort of extended family somewhere.”   
  
Marinette worried her lip. The thought of Adrien killing himself weighed heavily on her mind, that was also something she just couldn’t see him ever doing. The only real difference between Adrien before he vanished was that he seemed more tired, but not depressed, just tired.   
  
“But the investigator’s checked with his known family and they didn’t see him either, right?”  
  
“Yeah,” Nino deflated, his edge gone as though the wind was knocked out of him. All of his passion seemed to fade away, replaced by the dark void that seemed to follow him everywhere after Adrien disappeared. “Noone knows where he could’ve gone. People don’t vanish into thin air. He _has_ to be somewhere.”   
  
“I agree, I haven’t given up on him, Nino.”   
  
“What?”  
  
Marinette stood up, “I have to get going, but I wanted you to know that, too. I don’t think people vanish randomly. I can’t solve his case, I’m not a cop but.. I just know that he’s out there somewhere, waiting to be found.”  
  
“You’re still hopeful… Thank you for coming. You’re always welcome to visit,” Nino looked tired and Marinette could only offer him a squeeze to his shoulder.   
  
“Stay well, Nino.” 

***

Marinette fell back first onto her bed, thumbing through her half translated grimoire. There had to be something about the jewels themselves, not just what they do but the effects of them, beyond combining them. You can’t just take a magic ring into a jewelry store and have them fix it.   
  
She flipped through pages and pages of pictures, but found nothing. Marinette knew she would have to make a better attempt at translating it, but it was hard. Languages had never been her strong suit, neither was writing.   
  
She looked over at the box on her desk and sighed, “Weren’t you learning Chinese?”   
  
Her room stayed silent. She was left alone in her own frustration. Everything was stacked against her. She had no leads, no information, no new knowledge. All she could do was look at the details over and over until something stuck out to her, or until someone else reached out.  
  
Even as Ladybug, she couldn’t question people randomly. It was invasive, and legally there had to be some sort of rule against it. Private information and all that. She put the book down and walked over to her desk, tearing a blank page out of her sketchbook.   
  
She had already talked to Alya, Nino, and Nathalie. Out of all the people Adrien was closest with that left only another small handful of people to try and talk to. Kagami, Chloe, and his father. Marinette could probably get in contact with Chloe the easiest, she still had her phone number. They didn’t bond well in the past but maybe if it was about Adrien, she would talk to her.   
  
Marinette pinned the paper to her corkboard.   
  
“There, another plan. One step closer, right?” 

Nobody answered her and she sighed. This was lonely work. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of puns Chat Noir would be throwing her way, but he was gone. There was no more lighthearted joking about serious situations, just a serious situation she couldn’t seem to fix by herself.    
  


“You should rest, Marinette.”   
  
“Okay.”  
  
She laid in her bed without complaint, turning over with her blankets so she faced the wall. Exhaustion weighed down her eyelids, and she was asleep before she could count to ten.   
  
***

_Marinette knew she was dreaming when she opened her eyes again, the scene before her was far too vibrant to be real life. She stood in a field of lavender, swaying with the breeze and tickling against her fingers. When she turned to gaze upon the sky it was painted in cotton candy pinks and soft lilac hues._ _  
_ _  
__Truly something only her brain could come up with. She laughed to herself and kept walking, it was a nice dream. Maybe her brain agreed, she needed a break from reality. The flowers brushed against her bare legs as she walked forward. Marinette kept her gaze trained forward, enjoying the smell of the fresh flowers as she went._ _  
_ _  
__She figured she was on a mountain side, she could see towns dotting the horizon, twinkling lights already turning on in preparation for the evening. Cows moved in the distance, bells ringing along the way._ _  
_ _  
__Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at least not until she saw someone. Her dreams normally involved people but it was always so many, especially her friends._ _  
_ _  
__Never one person. She watched his shirt ruffle in the wind, white linen, pale blue jeans. That was all she could see before the rest of him was obscured with the lavender plants._ _  
_ _  
__It was just a dream._ _  
_ _  
__“Hey, what are you doing here?” She called, making sure her voice was mellow, soft. If whoever she was speaking to reacted badly, she might wake up._ _  
  
_

_ And she really didn’t want to wake up from this dream, not at all. It was too beautiful.  _

  
  


_The figure stopped and the breeze blew harder than it had before, ruffling a head of fine blonde hair. Marinette felt her breath catch in her throat as he turned towards her._ _  
_ _  
__There he was, Adrien. Not the 16 year old boy that had been lost, no. He was older, his hair longer, his eyes brighter than the fields of green beyond their purple border. His head tilted to the side as he looked at her, unspeaking._ _  
_ _  
__“Adrien,” she finally spoke, the name feeling foreign on her tongue. Adrien visibly flinched, eyes wide._ _  
_ _  
__“You can see me?”_ _  
_ _  
__He was shocked, clearly, so was she. Her heart pounded against her chest as she reached for him. Adrien met her halfway and in the space between them their hands met. Marinette laced her fingers together with Adrien’s and stepped closer to him, raising their hands._ _  
_ _  
__“Yes,” she breathed, “I can see you.” She wanted to cry, but her dream self didn’t allow it. Instead she felt a pain swell in her chest until it melted into a wave of relief that washed over her body as Adrien let go of one of her hands and cupped her cheek in his hand._ _  
_ _  
__She did not have it in her to cry, but when she looked at his face again, she saw the tears that streamed down either side of his face._ _  
_ _  
__“Don’t cry, there’s no reason to cry,” she let go of him finally and wiped the tears off his face. They stood, holding each other’s faces in their hands. Marinette felt like she was holding the world between her palms. She gazed into Adrien’s eyes and saw the anguish in them._ _  
_ _  
__Four years of not being seen, this was not the dream she thought it was, there was no way it was that. She brushed her thumb under his cheek,_ _  
_ _  
__“Where are you, Adrien? I’ve been looking all over for you.”_ _  
_ _  
__Adrien’s mouth opened, then closed. His eyes squeezed shut and his head dipped to the side. His hands left her face again as he reached for her hands._ _  
_ _  
__“I’m here,” he said, “I always have been.”_ _  
_ _  
__Marinette looked at their hands, at Adrien’s hands on top of hers. She didn’t realize Adrien had a scar on his ring finger. How had she never noticed it before? It was huge, the scar stretched from his finger up and around his wrist, like his veins were actually scarred._ _  
_ _  
__“What do you mean? You’ve been gone for so long..”_ _  
_ _  
__Adrien sighed through his nose and stepped closer to her, pushing her bangs off her forehead to kiss her._ _  
_ _  
__“I can’t.. Say anything else, I’m sorry, Princess.”_ _  
_ _  
__“Adrien? Adrien!” She felt him leave her, watched him take several steps back as the dream before her blew to dust._ _  
_  
***  
  


Marinette woke up to total darkness, her curtains moving slightly with the late evening breeze. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and sat up, drawing her knees close to herself as she tried to remember everything about her dream.   
  
She combed her fingers through her hair. She saw Adrien, that was just a fact, and not the 16 year old version of him she remembered. He looked older, sounded older, everything about him was aged and not in a gross way but in the normal way.   
  
Was her brain playing tricks on her or was her luck finally kicking in? Adrien felt nothing like the mirages she saw of Chat Noir. Chat Noir looked like his old self, the kitty she remembered but Adrien had changed.   
  
Maybe she had been thinking about this wrong. She looked over at the picture of Adrien on her corkboard. She never thought that Adrien was dead but it was the highest possibility, but she also thought that Chat Noir had to be out there somewhere, waiting, or living his life, but he must have been doing something.   
  
What if it was the opposite? The hairs on the back of her neck stood up while she thought about it. She knew people thought that Adrien might be dead, it was a possibility that had to be considered. But, what if Adrien didn’t die?   
  
She stood from her bed and walked across to her desk again, sitting down and smoothing her hands over the wooden top. Marinette plucked the orange box off it’s shelf and looked at the inky black ring inside. It glistened in the moonlight streaming in, winking at her.   
  
Perhaps, Chat Noir was the one who died. The thought sent a shiver down her spine, she did not want to believe that he was dead. She wanted to imagine that he was living a happier life without the burden of the black cat miraculous. Marinette truthfully, had no idea what her partner’s life was like outside of the mask. She wanted to protect their identities for as long as possible and her decision was biting her in the ass currently.   
  
Chat Noir was probably dead, if any of her dreams and.. Visions made any sense. Adrien had aged, he looked older, but Chat Noir looked the same as always.   
  
Marinette looked at her hands, and rubbed the spot where Adrien had held them.  


He felt so real in her dream, there was no way it was just a dream. Her brain couldn’t make up details she had never seen before. But that didn’t solve the case, it only told her that Adrien Agreste was still alive, missing, but still alive.   
  
That was enough for her. She plucked the ring out of it’s box. She didn’t have any time to waste,   
  
“Marinette, where are you going?” Tikki rubbed her eyes sleepily, “It’s the middle of the night.”  
  
“Jewelry repair center on campus,” she yanked her plastic pass out of her desk drawer, “I can’t take it to someone who doesn’t know what it is, but I can do it myself.”   
  
“Do you think that’s the best idea?”  
  
“It’s the only one I got, Tikki!” 

***  
  
She dropped her jacket on one of the tables. This was perhaps one of her dumbest ideas yet but it was the only one she had. If she could patch the crack in the ring, maybe she could use it. Maybe, she could convince Plagg to tell her where his charge went off to.   
  
The ring’s repairs had to come first. It didn’t take long to discover that it was actually a carbon fiber ring, that at least made the repair part easy. She needed to patch the ring.   


Marinette picked up an eye loupe to get a better look at the ring, magnifying the damage. It wasn’t a terrible break, thank god. She knew she needed to fill the cracks with more carbon fiber, probably, but that wasn’t a very easy thing to do in of itself.   
  
Could she patch it with another material?   
  
“Plagg?” She called, taking the loupe away from her eye. The kwami popped out of his ring with a long yawn, and an overdramatic stretch.   
  
“‘M here, I’m here. What do you want now?”   
  
Marinette smiled at him, “Just a quick question.”  
  
“Hurry up, then. I was in the middle of my nap, ask away, lady,” he was clearly irritated. Marinette wondered how her partner dealt with a kwami like Plagg.   
  
“About the miraculous.. Do you think the crack could be repaired with another material?”   
  
Plagg hovered in the air, paw rubbing at his chin in thought, “You’re repairing the ring yourself?”  
  
“I don’t really have another choice. A broken miraculous isn’t very useful you know, and I’m the guardian now. Isn’t it my job to take care of the jewels?”   
  
The dark kwami sighed, “Unfortunately.. But I think, I mean, I don’t know. The ring’s never cracked before. It wouldn’t hurt to try but you better not fuck up!”   
  
“Thanks for the confidence boost.”   
  
Plagg chuckled, “You’re very welcome. I’ll see if I can enchant the repairs with my powers,” he wiggled his paws in the air and popped back inside his miraculous. That was the end of that conversation.   
  
Better than the last one. Marinette rolled her eyes and placed the eye loupe back against her eye. She had to be careful not to mess the ring up entirely. Her fingertips trembled as she plucked a small bead of gold out of it’s case with a pair of tweezer’s. She really should have been wearing globes but she didn’t have the time. It wasn’t like she was a proffesional anyways.   
  
She heated the bead with a small tool as a thought came to her. What she was doing felt familiar and she remembered something Adrien told her about, a long time ago.   
  
The Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing broken pottery with gold colored laquer. Not a perfect repair, but something that made art of the damage that was done to the item. Adrien said that it also represented people, in his own opinion.

_ When we break, we don’t become whole again, we just fill in the cracks with something beautiful until we’re whole again.  _

Marinette sighed, how ironic. She was trying to fix something of Chat Noir’s and all she could think about was Adrien. She watched the gold fill all of the cracks atop the ring, and when each and every break was filled, she shut the tool off, removing the loupe from her eye again.   
  
The miraculous shimmered in a soft green glow, glittering across the clear polish on her nails before it stopped. The ring was no longer black, it was replaced by a chunky silver ring, now embellished with gold across the top.   
  
“Marinette!” Tikki squealed, “You did it!”   
  
“I did it!” Had the ring not still been hot she would’ve kissed it. Instead she held it just as carefuly as before, brushing her hair out of her face with a laugh, “I fixed it!”   
  
Her kwami snuggled up close to her neck with a laugh, “You’re amazing! This is incredible. Plagg, come out! Marinette fixed the miraculous.   
  
Marinette looked expectantly at the ring, waiting for the kwami of chaos to pop out, and make fun of her again. But he did not. The room remained silent and Marinette’s smile slowly left her face.   
  
“He might be enchanting the repairs, Tikki.”   
  
Tikki hummed, bopping the ring with her paw, “Plagg?”   
  


The ring shimmered again, buzzing against her fingertips before it stopped again,   
  
Marinette stared at the ring, and that was when an image appeared in her head. A different one, unlike anything she had ever felt before. A warmth spread from her fingers down to her gut and she saw it clear as day, the ocean, a church, a statue of a woman she didn’t quite recognize at all. She heard a breathy laugh twinkling like windchimes in the breeze and when she came back to herself, Plagg was floating outside of the ring.   
  
“What _was_ that?”   
  
“He’s alive!” Plagg cried, “Chat Noir, he’s alive, I know where he is now! We’re still connected! C’mon, put me on, we’ve got a boy to go find. Come on, come on come on!”   
  
“I am not using- fine!” she slipped the ring onto her finger. “You will guide while I’m Ladybug.”   
  
“Yes ma’am,” Plagg saluted her, and they were off to go find their missing halves. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so i did not edit this chapter bc i am... lazy! but i was excited to share it anyways! i hope you enjoy! if u have any thoughts or critique pls leave them below, i thrive off of comments.. they r my food.

**Author's Note:**

> this is one of my bigger works hehe. I CANNOT PROMISE... a consistent update schedule at all bc where i enjoy writing this i am aCTUALLY EDITING THIS THING.. for once in my life. Hehe. this is v plot heavy. slowburn ahead. if u want to follow me and ur 18+ pls feel free to follow me on twitter @razodazol and if ur under 18, at my tumblr @razndazzle for updates or just 2 ask questions and interact hehe. pls comment !! im nosy and thrive off of attention.


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